Review of Seven Thieves

Professor Edward G. Robinson assembles six cohorts for a heist on a Monte Carlo casino--but when penniless strong-arm Rod Steiger takes command of the robbery, the disparate personalities of the team come to the fore. Sydney Boehm, adapting Max Catto's novel, can't seem to decide whether to slant this derivative tale towards criminal melodrama or play it up as a lightweight diversion; bits and pieces of both emerge. The indifferent tone set by the writing may be one reason why director Henry Hathaway has staged it in a poker-faced, workmanlike manner. Talky, humorless, and oddly indifferent. Robinson coasts through on his built-in good will, Joan Collins provides the eye-candy as a cheesecake dancer (with two gratuitous numbers). *1/2 from ****